Being Human
by Feonyx
Summary: It's dark, they're alone, and there are wolves after them. Not too much for a battered Lloyd, goddessvessel Colette, and everyone else lost in the night, is it? Especially when the real question of the day is what it means to be human...
1. Glorious Adventuring

**Being Human**

**Chapter One: Glorious Adventuring**

_To Dusk_

                Leaving the capital city, Lloyd finally put a name to the bizarre queasiness that he had been feeling for the last three days.  It had become the most noticeable when he and Genis took off to reach the Tower of Salvation, but at that time the young swordsman had guessed it was just airsickness from the wildly manoeuvring dragon.  Or walking on a bridge over a column of swirling caskets, or the sickening shock of being betrayed by Kratos, someone he had just been starting to like.

                Lloyd was thinking about more than one thing at a time, and it was giving him a severe headache.  If the journey of world regeneration was a lie, then was it even possible to restore Sylvarant, or had the mana always been strengthening Tethe'alla and leaving his homeland?  If it could be reversed, was the only way to do it to go along with Cruxis?  If it was, could Lloyd bring himself to aid the same people who had killed his mother and father?  Could he let them have Colette?

                Was there any of Colette left to be saved?

                "What's wrong, Lloyd?" asked Genis.  He glanced back at the rest of the group, since their party had trailed out as they crossed the plains.  His sister was too far back to hear.  "You didn't let Raine test her seafood stew on you, I hope."

                "Nah, I'm just… I'm fine, I mean," said Lloyd.  He heard a strange, grumbling wheeze, and whirled about as his swords seemed to leap from their scabbards.  "What was that?"

                "Try looking down," Genis suggested, and Lloyd did, finding that the strangely glassy gaze of Presea was on him.  "I think she scoffed."  The taciturn girl moved on, dragging her axe the way a normal child her size might carry a stuffed animal.

                "What was that about?" Lloyd asked, baffled.

                "I don't think she believed you," Genis replied.

                "What would she know?"

                "Hey, Presea's a lot more insightful than you think!"

                "And since when have you had a thing for pink hair?" Lloyd went on, happy to be onto a different topic.

                Further back on the trail, Raine was trying desperately to read a short treatise on hypoallergenics, but nothing in the universe seemed to want to help, especially their newest ally.  Zelos had discovered that the only thing Colette ever seemed interested in was hurling him into trees, bushes, or rocky ground (if nothing else presented itself) when he got close, and temporarily given up.

                "So she doesn't talk at all?" he asked.

                Raine wondered what the chances were that she could convince this idiot that no females in Sylvarant spoke, and then sadly recalled talking more than once in his presence back in the city.  "No, she doesn't."  Raine, who was not one for unnecessary cruelty, looked ahead to make sure Lloyd was out of hearing.  "She may have no self left to understand speech, or she may simply have been sealed inside herself and lost the ability to control her own body, but Colette is, for the moment, not exactly alive."

                "Not alive?" the Chosen of Tethe'alla repeated.  "That's madness– she nearly gutted me with her bare hands!"

                "Colette's current persona, whatever it might be, is solely focused on self-preservation."  Raine closed the book and pocketed it, the better to turn a double Photon-Tempest-like glare on him.  "So the real question is: _what were you trying to do_?"

                "Calm down, sweet lady!" Zelos yelped, leaping back and raising his hands.  "Are all girls from Sylvarant like this?"

                " 'Calm down'," Raine repeated sarcastically.  "Don't mess about with angelic people who have been shaped into a vessel for the incarnation of a goddess, and you might be dealt fewer waahh_hhTCHOU__!_"  Raine bent over double with the force of the sneeze, and was in the midst of fumbling for a handkerchief when a black-gloved hand dangled one in front of her.  The letters 'ZW' were monogrammed in gold thread on every corner.

                "That was forceful," he remarked as the professor snatched the offering.  "Keep it, I have dozens."

                "It's the local flora, I'm sure of it," Raine said, her voice muffled by the cloth.

                "Flora?  Right, I know her.  Waitress at the Frothing Otter, unless I miss my–"

                "I _mean_," said Raine, "the plants of Tethe'alla are not what I'm used to, and I'm allergic to some of them.  _Violently_ allergic.  If you take my hint."

                "Seems everyone in this party wishes to make adventuring as boring as possible," Zelos lamented.  "I don't like to use my best tricks early on, but perhaps it's time I chose nicknames for everyone."

                "Please," Raine muttered sarcastically.  "Don't."

                But she spent the next few hours, as the capital shrunk into the distance and sunk over the horizon like a wonton into green tea, fending the red-haired man off with lectures on the Asgard Ruins, the evolution of dragons, the theory of mana, and –more than once– her new Ruby Staff.  Finally, when the rolling hills and forests of Tethe'alla started to annoy rather than fascinate everyone but Raine, she was given a respite from the aggravating man.

                "How much further do we have to go?" asked Lloyd.

                "There goes his excitement again," Raine remarked quietly, but she was quite happy, because it drew Zelos away to defend the glory of his homeland.

                "Are you speaking ill of this fair land?" he demanded, marching at a purposeful double-time to catch up with Lloyd.  "Though it is evident that the ladies of Sylvarant are as perfectly crafted–"

                "Perfectly _what?_" Raine demanded, torn away from her book again, but no one noticed.

                "–As those of Tethe'alla, I won't have any adventurers from a world in decline saying that my home is in the slightest harsh, inhospitable, or unsightly!" Zelos snapped.

                "I wasn't saying it was _ugly_," Lloyd corrected him, leaning towards the second Chosen aggressively, "I was saying it was _boring_.  And very _big_, probably so you can fit all the boring into it!"

                "If you say one more thing against this world that I was Chosen to protect, I'll spread your remains from the north to the south of all Meltokio!"

                "What in blazes is wrong with the two of you?" Raine demanded.  The troupe had stopped walking, mostly so that Zelos and Lloyd could be hostile without watching their path.

                "He's maligning the countryside, sweetheart," said Zelos.  "And to be honest, not only does his outfit clash with the scenery, the whole kid clashes with any universe that's pretty enough to have me in it."

                "I can see about fixing that part," Lloyd grumbled.

                "This is inefficient," said a voice in the sort of monotone that doesn't even have the decency to be bored.  Presea had come back to find out why the group had stopped marching, and was now standing at a sort of attention, though her hand still gripped her axe firmly.  "Vocal disagreement is allowable for the resolution of conflict, but halting motion is unacceptable."

                They stared at her for a moment.  Why on Sylvarant (or Tethe'alla, if you were Zelos' thoughts… assuming he has them) did she speak like that, anyway?

                "Coming from Presea, that was practically a speech," Lloyd remarked.

                "Anything for you, little rosebud," said Zelos, flipping a ridiculously thick lock of hair over his shoulder nonchalantly.

                "You may also continue progression, then," Presea decided, and started away from them again.  They all shrugged –excepting Colette, of course– and followed the miniscule warrior's lead.  It worked for a few moments; the only sound was Genis talking to Raine about what a natural peacemaker Presea was, and then Lloyd snorted just a little too loudly.

                "What?" Zelos demanded.

                "Rosebud?" Lloyd repeated.  "She's about half your size and a third your age."

                "Watch it, scruffy," Zelos snapped.  "And just how old do you think I am?"

                "Not dead yet," Lloyd countered, "but I'm giving you a life expectancy of about five o' clock at this point."

                "Pfeh, you're just jealous," said the Tethe'alla Chosen.  "What's your problem, anyway?"  This remark was born of such an outstanding concentration of obliviousness that it froze the Sage siblings in mid-step, and Zelos seemed to be able to feel their unbelieving stares, for he looked over his shoulder uncomfortably.  "What?"

                Raine and Genis moved with the inhuman (or in-elvish, or a mix of the two, as the case may be) synchronicity that people were gifted with in such times, looking at Zelos, then Lloyd, then the empty vessel that was Colette trailing behind the group.  The cycle repeated several times.

                "You could at least give me a hint," said Zelos, scratching the back of his head in confusion.

                "Will you just tell us how much longer we're going to be walking?" asked Raine, whose eyes were reddening and turning slightly watery.  "I can't stand the boredom Lloyd starts projecting at times like this."

                "Don't pay any attention to him," said Zelos, sidling up to the professor.  "Not when you've got–"

                "Zelos," said Lloyd flatly.

                "That's right, kid," said the Chosen, not taking his eyes off Raine, who was trying to hide behind a scroll on the construction of the Sorcerer's Ring without sneezing it blurry.

                "No, I was getting your attention," said Lloyd.  Zelos turned, just slightly, to make eye contact.  "Tell us how far it is to this Sybak place or I'll shave your head while you sleep."

                "_ARGH!_" Zelos yelped, tripping over his own feet in an attempt to freeze in panic and flee at the same time.  "Don't say that sort of stuff.  We'll get to the Grand Bridge tomorrow morning if we walk all through the night –and it's not like I'll be sleeping anyway, now– or tomorrow afternoon if we camp."

                "Capbv_vfvfphh__!_" Raine sneezed.  Even Colette turned to look at her, thinking that the sound could not possibly be anything other than a charging, trumpeting bull dragon of some sort.  Her blue eyes glared at the gawkers over top of Zelos' kerchief.  "Camp," she said again, thickly.

                "I'll stand all the watches while you sleep the sleep of angels–" Zelos began chivalrously.

                "_Just once!_" Lloyd shouted, leaping forward to take a swing at the red-haired man.  As he passed Colette, however, she reached out with one arm and dealt a hammer blow to Lloyd's chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.

                "Why thank you, little beauty," said Zelos, bowing theatrically.

                Lloyd rolled onto his back and looked up at her dead, blood-red eyes in fearful confusion.  "Colette…"  She took no notice of either man's reaction to her action.

                "It's all right, Lloyd," said Genis, walking over and helping him up.  "You just got too close… she – whatever's controlling Colette thought you were dangerous."

                With help from his friend, Lloyd stumbled to his feet, still agape at her passionless strike.  "Yeah… I guess so…"

                Presea had materialized again.  "Are we camping here for the night?"

                At Raine's frantic nodding and Lloyd's total lack of noticing the rest of the world existed, let alone protesting, Genis nodded to the unusual girl, too intimidated to get any words out.  Presea's gaze cast about them; the party had stopped in a wide, clear stretch of the path from Meltokio to the Grand Tethe'alla bridge, but before the land rose up into mountain ranges keeping them in on both sides, a thick forest sprang up like a buffer between flat lands and pointy ones.  She set off toward the nearest region, a hundred yards away, with the sort of look that makes trees tremble in fear.

                Genis sat beside the ring of stones that held back their cooking fire and stirred the meat stew.  It was a good one, he knew, but the little mage couldn't quite bring himself to enjoy the cooking process this time.  It helped to be surrounded by happier people.

                Colette was sitting, cross-legged and upright as a board, relatively near the fire to benefit from its warmth.  She was freaking him out.  Lloyd was sitting on a rock, staring up at stars that kept looking like they were going to be familiar but weren't, somewhere between wretched and sulking.  Raine was searching the tall grass patches desperately for whatever kind of plant could be making her so miserable, clearly intending to Photon it into oblivion (first taking the time to make a careful sketch so she could recognize and destroy others of its species, too).  Zelos didn't bear commenting, he was himself.

                And Presea was starting to drive Genis completely mad.  In some ways it was a good mad, and explained a lot about why Colette and Lloyd were always around each other back in Iselia.  In other ways it was a combination of terror and torture.  Every ten minute or so she arrived back in the faint light of their camp –darkness had set in– with more wood to stoke the fire, then vanished again.  Once her axe had something that Genis sincerely hoped wasn't blood on it.

                "Hey, only one of us can be the brooding one at a time," said Lloyd, and when Genis turned he saw the swordsman smiling half-heartedly.  "And I've got more experience at it, so you might as well let me take the lead."

                "So what am I going to be?   The cheerful sidekick?" ask Genis, adding more onion to the stew.

                "Works for me."

                "Funny thing is, Lloyd, I know that whatever you're worrying about _now_ isn't the same thing you were worrying about before.  What's with you?"

                "I'm thinking a lot.  And before you try to be funny, yes, it does hurt," said Lloyd.  He had gone back to looking at the dark blue sky.  "Hey, those stars over there sort of look like Mjollnir.  Dad used to point it out to me all the time."

                "What are you thinking about now?" asked Genis.  "It's not like I've got anything better to do until this comes back to the boil."

                "She just _hit_ me, Genis," said Lloyd.  "Colette.  She's never hit me in her life.  There have been times she's intentionally fallen onto rocks rather than trip and hit me."

                "You caught her anyway, as I remember," said Genis.

                "Well, yeah, when I was quick enough.  Sometimes Colette…"  Lloyd almost choked, but he made it sound like he was clearing his throat.  "Sometimes she needs to be saved from her own good intentions."

                "Hey, Presea!" Genis yelped, leaping to his feet.

                "So do you, I might add," said Lloyd to the receding elf.

                "Presea!" Genis called again, catching up with her.

                "I have not moved since the last time you obtained my attention," she informed him.  She was dragging a chunk of log that probably had as much mass as Lloyd, but had indeed stopped, still in blue shadow.  Genis blushed, thankful for the dark.

                "Try this!" he said abruptly, raising a large spoonful of the stew.  Presea observed it for a moment and obediently tasted the mixture.

                "I will eat it," she decided.

                "But do you like it?" Genis asked.

                "No," Presea responded, clearly unaware of the effect this had on the elf.

                "Oh…"

                "I do not enjoy beef."

                "...I'm sorry…"

                "I merely require nourishment.  You will supply the food, a useful task.  It is unnecessary to enjoy a vital substance."

                "Okay…" Genis said, because if he didn't say anything he had the feeling his face would catch fire.  "Uh… I don't think we'll need any more wood tonight."

                "That is good.  The beetles are excessively belligerent."

                Presea seemed to decide that the conversation was over, dragged the last chunk of wood to lie with the others, and vanished into the darkness again for purposes unknown.  Sighing, Genis returned to the fire, sat down sharply, and gave the stew the most vicious stirring of its life.  Lloyd watched in amusement.

                "What are you doing?" he asked, curious about the industrious elf's actions.

                "Trying to drown out the beef with more onion," said Genis through gritted teeth as he sliced one of the vegetables and resisted its eye-watering fumes.

                "What?  The meat's the only reason I've been bothering to learn how to make that stuff."

                "Well tonight it's going to be different," said Genis.  He picked one of the strips of beef out of the stewpot on a long fork, gave it a one-shot tenderizing with his kendama, and dropped it back into the red-brown sauce.

                "…Right.  I'll… go talk to Raine or something."  Lloyd left the short fanatic cook to his work and wandered around their camp, such as it was.  The fire was central, and everyone had taken the opportunity to drop their travelling packs, but he didn't exactly have to navigate a forest of tents to find the elf sage hunched over a large tome.  One hand clutched the kerchief to her face, the other was frenetically turning pages, searching for a hint to which plant was assaulting her so badly.

                "Hi, Lloyd."  Raine looked up at him blearily.  "You don't feel anything?"

                "I'm doing fine, Professor."

                "Nod eben a tickle?"

                "Nothing, Prof Sage."

                "Lugcky litdle– hwa_chou__!_"

                "Um… you know, Professor, you might want to try magic or something," said Lloyd, drawing back from her a bit.  "If Recover can cure all those poisons, it's got to be able to fight off some pollen."

                "Yu'd thignk," Raine agreed.  "But eben if I could get the igcantation out right, I don't thignk the elbes designed these sbells with Tethe'alla Hayfever in mibd."  She blew her nose and tried to blink her eyes clear, the better to see Lloyd's expression.  "What's bothering you?  Wait, let me guess.  Colette."

                "No wonder you're a professor," Lloyd remarked, collapsing again in angsty exhaustion.  The stars had been a lot more comforting back home, when he could see entire dwarven legends unfolding overhead like they had for all his life.

                "That must have been quite the blow she dealt," Raine prompted him, knowing it hadn't been.

                "That's not really it."  The swordsman sighed.  "It was so unlike her, I'm just afraid that there's no Colette left to save."

                Raine was silent for long enough that Lloyd found himself shifting uncomfortably.  And if the ground couldn't make him uncomfortable enough to already be moving, it would  take a lot to get even a twitch from him.  At last, thankfully, she exhaled in a way that told him she was about to say something.

                "I suppose, Lloyd, that would depend on what you believe it means to–"

                The sound of marinated beef striking the back of a half-elf's head at very high speed is, to say the least, not one known by most inhabitants of the universe.  This is unfortunate, because it's an amazing effect, especially with properly prepared meat.  Raine turned, her hair dripping a reddish-brown sauce, to dispense another glare to Genis.

                In response Genis, who was similarly coated in a tangy marinade, held up one hand that glittered strangely in what remained of the firelight.  "Sorry.  I burned myself a little.  Wasn't paying attention."

                "And the explosion?" Raine demanded.  Her tone was enough to keep Lloyd cowering in the long grass.

                "Well… I got a little emotional when I touched the hot metal–"

                "I think it started long before that," Lloyd muttered.

                "You didn't let your magic get out of control, did you?" Raine asked sternly.  "I thought we had dealt with this."

                "It was just one Air Thrust!" Genis insisted.  As he spoke, the last of the stew dripped out of the upturned pot and doused the flames.  In the new darkness, Genis added "I cast Icicle intentionally, to suppress the burn."  
                "Well, at least that was a good idea," Raine admitted, starting towards her brother to check his hand, but Zelos arrived back at camp first.

                "What the hell just happened?" he demanded.

                "There was a problem with the stew," Raine replied coldly.

                "No kidding, I nearly lost an eye," Zelos told them.  "But I saw magic, too.  What are you doing casting those sorts of spells?  Out here in the wilderness?  At night?!  _And coincidentally hurling meat in all directions?!_"

                "Ah, shut up, Zelos," Lloyd told him.

                "None of you have the slightest idea, do you?" The Chosen of Tethe'alla looked up at the sky.  "This is what comes of travelling with peasants from the declining world.  It really is."  Then, setting his face into a determined expression, he started barking orders.  "Find Colette, find Presea, and pack up– we're leaving.  Make sure you keep all the food well covered and out of smell."

                "You mean sight?" asked Lloyd, confused.

                "No, I don't," Zelos replied.  "I don't want the monsters who were just attracted by the repeated use of mana and an explosion of meat out here in the middle of nowhere to be able to track us even more easily while we flee for our lives.  Now will you get going?!"

                A wolf howl rose out of the darkness to the southwest, and two more answered, each one shaking the adventurers even more.  "That sounded a lot like they're all around us…" Genis said slowly.

                "They are," Raine said, trying to sound implacable, and failing when she had to fumble yet again for Zelos' handkerchief.  She gestured for Genis to get the wood burning again, and he quietly prepared a Fireball.

                "I hope everyone's ready for a long night," Zelos said, turning to try to see through the black night.  A long, low growl answered him, and eyes flashed in the light of the new flames.


	2. One of Those Nights

**Being Human**

**Chapter Two: One of Those Nights  
  
**_  
  
Through Dark  
  
_Lloyd wasn't happy to hear his thunderous heartbeat fill his ears with the sound of pumping blood. For one, he wanted to know beforehand if anything was creeping up out of sight, and for another he didn't want any creatures with acute hearing out there being reminded of his fear, vulnerability, or tastiness.

"What do you think those were?" asked Genis, hurriedly packing food. Zelos had lost most of his cavalier attitude, and was turning at the slightest rustle of windblown grass, Omega Shield and silver sword at the ready.

"They sounded like wolves to me," Raine murmured, and if she was even as worried as her brother, she didn't let it show. Neither of them were good fighters without someone on the front lines, but this wasn't immediately apparent from the determined way Raine gripped her staff. It was probably the allergies.

"Black wolves are common in this region. I should have realised people from the declining world wouldn't have the sense to be stealthy out in wild country–" Zelos grumbled.

"Wild country?!" Lloyd protested. "This looks like my back yard!"

"Quieter, please, Lloyd," Raine said. To her surprise, the next minute did pass in silence as Genis folded up the last of his cooking equipment and stood, ready to move. This was enough unlike Lloyd that Raine couldn't keep from checking to make sure that Lloyd was still there. Naturally, he wasn't. "Where did he go?"

"He probably noticed that Colette's missing," Genis said.

"What? Didn't I say that we're going to find her?" Zelos demanded.

"No," Raine answered coldly. "You ordered someone to go find her."

"Oh, _great_, now he's doing what I say. Brilliant way to get killed," the Chosen said.

Raine and Genis shared a brother-and-sister look, the kind that contains an entire conversation within a second of eyebrow twitching. Raine asked if it was even possible that Zelos was in this reality and not just a hallucination. Genis replied that if his ego was possible, the rest of his unbelievable nature was a minor thing. Raine wondered in a roundabout way if it might not be kinder to the universe to knock him out with her staff and leave him to the wolves. Genis suggested that they wait until it would be easier to make it look like an accident.

"So half of our party is out in the perilous darkness. Let's find them first," Raine said firmly, and then bent over double with the force of a sneeze-ambush.

"I'll find Presea!" Genis volunteered, leaping forward, but Zelos caught him by the collar.

"We'll _all_ find Presea. And we probably should find her first. Colette can hold her own against most things right now, and if Lloyd can't, that's his problem." Genis didn't respond to this, at least not with words, but he did give Zelos' foot a bit of a stomping before moving on.

They walked carefully through the grassy plain, not daring to light a torch or break into a run. The wolves of Sylvarant were bad enough, but in the flourishing world they would be born stronger and nourished better, though unfortunately not enough to skip over a few wayward travellers.

"Where did they all get to?" Raine asked stuffily.

"With any luck, those wolf howls will have warned Presea, and she'll know to get to safety. Wolves don't climb well," Zelos explained.

There hadn't been any howls since the first three, which had perhaps been one pack calling others in to the hunt. Genis was likely the most worried, as he knew that more spellcasting was likely to call in extra monsters in greater numbers than he could defeat per blast. Did Lloyd know how to avoid wolves? Would he even bother trying?

The tall grass that had formerly felt to the little Sage like a sheltering blanket-rug rising from the cool earth was now a menacing veil, blocking most of his sight –a stray thought wondered if he would be short all his life, or if his life would be too short to find out– and muffling the sounds of distant predators on the hunt. Genis only realised that he was getting worked up over the sound of his own breathing when it quickened in fear.

"Don't blow yourself up, kid," said Zelos, noticing Genis' tense attitude.

"Will you just be–" Raine began angrily, but another wolf howl, almost mournful, pierced the deep night, and she nearly took off the heads of both her companions with her Ruby Staff in a single frantic swing.

"No, I will not be staff-smacked by a frantic elf who shouldn't even be in combat," Zelos replied, feeling the back of his head to ensure that she hadn't damaged him. "How far away do you suppose that howl came from?"

Raine replayed the last few moments of her memory, trying not to let the irksome Chosen distract her from the danger at hand. "At least two miles away, in the far forest by those mountains."

"Probably nothing to do with us, then," Zelos decided, turning back in the direction he was pretty sure they had been travelling in beforehand.

"_Hnnnghhrrlll__,_" the black wolf agreed.

* * *

Lloyd ran recklessly through the waist-high grass, determined to find Colette before anything dangerous could, ready to draw and fight if he found monsters first. She had been sitting by the fire last anyone had seen her, close enough to feel the warmth, too far to be in danger of burning– everything was silent calculation with that girl these days. What could have broken through that shell enough to make Colette wander off on her own? Did she actually want to be alone? It wouldn't fit with the heartless drone Yggdrasill had made her out to be. Was that terrible angel wrong about her loss of soul?

_If it weren't for the wolves_, thought Lloyd, _this would be a hopeful night._

As though placed in his path by the Summon Spirit of Irony, Lloyd nearly tripped over a low dark obstacle and stumbled to a halt a few paces beyond. The thing rose, and in the faint light of a rising moon, he saw eyes glint and fangs glisten. Two more living shadows lifted themselves from the ground, and Lloyd wondered if the beasts of Tethe'alla were bad enough to warrant fear.

_Three to one odds is always a good reason to be afraid,_ Lloyd admitted to himself, but then another shape caught his eye. The reason the predators had been crouched and unaware of his approach was that they had been busy feasting. A body lay prone in the darkness.

"COLETTE!" In combat, rage can be a multiplicative factor. The odds were now three to one– against the wolves.

No spectator could have been certain how the fight progressed, not in deep shadow when the only hints of motion were twin swords flashing with silver moonlight and the subtle slithering of blackness within already-impenetrable dark, sight that must be felt with the eyes.

But when it was over, when the last fatal strike caused a catastrophic mana imbalance that disintegrated the third black wolf's remains (in other words, it exploded very neatly in a faint burst of light) Lloyd looked only determined and faintly scratched. With no other thoughts in his head, he checked the prey.

A deer.

The white he had mistaken for Colette's holy garb was just fur.

No loss yet.

They had deer in Tethe'alla, too.

A wave of drowsiness engulfed Lloyd as his body came back down from the battle-fury his Exsphere called up in times of distress. Over Limits, Raine had called it. But this was no time to sleep. Lloyd rose from his knees, without remembering falling to begin with, and pressed on into the night.

* * *

"I can handle this," Zelos assured them grimly, twirling his sword once. "Genis, no magic, you hear me? Raine, stand back unless one of us is about to die. I can take a wolf, no trouble."

"I hear a lot more of them…" Genis murmured, trying in vain to see better.

Zelos paused. "Like how many?"

"Perhaps a dozen," Raine decided.

"Okay… uh…" Zelos watched the approaching wolf more warily. If it was meant to distract him, these things were a lot brighter than he had given them credit for.

"Fantastic! 'Uh'! Where do you get these strategies?!" Genis demanded.

"That way!" Zelos shouted, pointing with his shield arm and beating a hasty retreat from the only enemy he could keep his eyes on.

"Oh, come on, that's ridiculous," said Genis. "It was a rhetorical question, you can't possibly tell me your ideas come from 'that wa'–" Raine, who was rational enough to understand Zelos' meaning, hauled her brother over one shoulder and dashed in the direction the Chosen had picked, hoping she wasn't about to step on any other beasts.

"_Haaachou__!_" Of all the times, that had to be the worst. Taken completely by surprise, the professor tripped in mid-sneeze and completed an awkward and painful somersault, slamming Genis into the ground halfway through. To his credit, Zelos hadn't gone more than ten paces past them before realising that he was on his own, and only a few wolves blocked his return path by then.

"This counts as bad," Zelos decided. Even he could hear how many of the hunting monsters were out there now. "But if anyone's going to save us… I guess it'll have to be me."

Genis stared with incredible blankness for one trapped by vicious monsters. "_What_?" It barely had enough emotion to count as a question, so absorbed was he by disbelief.

Zelos had the sense to make the right first move; he lunged at the pair of black-haired beasts that were trying to keep him separate from the Sages. "_Sonic Thrust!_" At the same time, Raine saw the ground at Genis' feet begin to sparkle with gathering power, and she focused on warding off attackers while he chanted the spell.

"Pancake time!" Genis shouted, unable to control the thrill of magic-channelling.

"Could've sworn I said no magic!" Zelos growled, but a leaping attack stole his attention back. The wolf's claws scrabbled against his Omega shield as he crouched and deflected it overhead, just in time.

"_Stalagmite!_" Genis finished, taking little notice of the admonition. A ring of stony spikes burst from the ground under several close-pressed wolves, followed by another two tiers to complete an earthen crown that hurled them in all directions.

With zeal worthy of his name, Zelos slashed at any foe who approached, and after a few tactical charges and side-slipping, he managed to rejoin the Sage siblings. Battle experience moved them instinctively back to back, though the realisation that they were both trapped and outnumbered did a lot to counter the relative safety of unity.

"I told you magic would draw more of these things," Zelos reminded them.

"Do we care now?" Raine demanded. "I'll be happy to argue later. Maybe in the Sybak inn."

"If wishing made it true…" Zelos mumbled. The wolves weren't moving in any sort of recognizable pattern, but the best chance would be to pick a weak point and push with everything he had. "Still, if anyone's going to save us, I guess it'll have to be–"

"_Infliction!_" A white-gold crescent moon flared in the darkness, destroying one monster and hurling aside another. "_Beast!_" The lion spirit scattered wolves in its path and startled those who saw it enough to break up the circling pack for a moment.

Genis didn't need ordering. "_Aqua Edge!_" Raine followed in the wake of his spell, with Genis close behind and Zelos fending off any creatures that would prefer to attack a fleeing target.

"We are heavily outnumbered," Presea noted, which apparently counted as a warm reunion. "Chance of success is negligible. _Punishment!_" Her axe spun wildly, driving off the regrouping beasts.

"We don't have to win, just get away," Zelos said.

"In a battle like this, escape _is_ victory," Raine point out.

"That is a valid perspective," Presea agreed.

"That was great, Presea!" Genis said as the four travellers fled their pursuers.

Presea didn't seem to take any notice, but remained focused on leading them towards the forest. "This path is free of predators," she told them, and no one doubted how the tiny berserker knew that for certain.

"Great. We can hide out in the trees until morning. There's no way they'll stay on us that long," Zelos said confidently.

"What about Lloyd and Colette!?" Genis demanded.

"With any luck he'll have figured it out too," Zelos stated flatly. "I'm not going to send people out to provide those wolves with a second course."

"You're not _sending_ us anywhere," Raine said sharply, and would have liked to stomp to a halt, except that there were clearly hunters after them, and gaining very quickly. "And saving our friends isn't a calculation."

"That's too bad; I'm really good with math," Zelos remarked.

They reached the treeline soon after, and with Raine's help even Genis was able to scramble up to a safe height. In the light of a fully-risen moon, they could pick out the courses run by the coming wolf packs, and as tall grass gave way to the forest's edge, their darting shadows took more obvious shape.

"Improbable quantities of opposing forces," Presea remarked.

"What do you mean?" asked Genis.

"She means there are at least fifty of them out there, which is way more than any wolf pack should naturally form," said Zelos, who had been struggling to count the beasts.

"They are monsters," Raine said. "Doesn't that explain unusual behaviour?"

"Monsters are still animals," said Presea. In her opinion, this explained everything.

"What?" asked Zelos.

"Monsters should still be smart enough to realise that fifty of them can't survive on a little band of adventurers. Something malicious is driving them," said Genis.

"Sucks to be Lloyd," Zelos said, nodding as listened to Genis' explanation.

"I'm going to find him," Genis insisted. "Everyone else can do what they want."

"Crazy brat," said Zelos. "Gorgeous Miss Raine?"

"_Professor_ Sage," Raine corrected him. "And without Kratos, the duty falls to me to keep the Chosen safe. I have a choice…" She sighed and looked to the sky. "But I can't choose any other way."

Zelos groaned and looked hopefully to Presea. "How about you, little rosebud?"

She clutched the branch firmly, watching the roaming creatures below. Although she didn't move, didn't even blink, he got the feeling that great forces were conflicting inside her. She looked no older than Genis, but that was an appearance Zelos doubted more every hour that went by.

"Chances of survival increase exponentially with greater numbers," she decided. "I will follow the majority."

"If you stayed with me, we'd be split fifty-fifty," Zelos grumbled. "All right, _fine_, how do we get out there and find this kid without getting eaten?"

"I wish Sheena was still with us," Genis said, leaning out precariously from the sturdy branch. Fortunately –as the whole explanation would have slowed them down for some time– he didn't notice the horrified expression on Zelos' face, which was the sort Genis personally would have given to Forcystus wearing a Katz suit. "But I think I've got it. We need to tree-hop."

"Maxwell preserve us…" Raine muttered, too quietly for anyone to hear, then spoke more normally. "Which way are we going?"

"…North, staying at the edge of the trees," Genis decided.

"Impractical," Presea said. "The trees are easier to travel between in the more thickly forested regions."

"We also don't know that Lloyd is within sight of the forest," Raine added.

"Fun being leader, isn't it?" asked Zelos cheerfully.

"I'm not leading," Genis replied. "And we don't need to find Lloyd from up top. Just go, I'll catch up." Confused but sufficiently convinced, Raine, Presea, and Zelos edged into the intertwining limbs of a neighbouring tree and crossed over. Raine in particular leapt from one to the other with both eyes shut and immediately sprinted along the second branch until she could lean against the trunk.

"Y'know, that dash was probably more dangerous than the hop," Zelos said, shifting his weight gymnastically over the gap. "Hey, Presea, can you get that far on your own?"

The tactiturn girl looked at him impassively. "I will adapt." She ran out to the end of the branch, used its maximum flexibility to strengthen her jump, and soared through the air for a full second before landing axe-first against the central pillar of the tree. She climbed up to the same level as the others and dislodged her weapon without so much as a heavy exhalation.

Genis waited for his friends –more accurately his sister, his not-very-secret crush, and his necessary ally– to gain quite some distance before starting the second step. "Kind of ironic that I wouldn't have thought of this trick if I didn't get us into this mess to start with," he said to himself. "_Wind Blade!_" Several slices severed a few thin branches, which plummeted uninterrupted to the ground. "_Fire Ball!_" That got them blazing. Reluctantly, Genis let the meat pouch with their best beef fall from his hand.

In moments every black wolf for a hundred yards was overpowered by the scent of cooking meat. Genis watched as they started to gather, and held back his kendama. He had intended to follow it up with something magical and devastating when enough of them had gathered, but if he didn't have to…

With all the speed his Dash EX gem afforded, Genis scrambled across the branches and after the others, unwilling to stop until he found Lloyd. In the distance the beasts howled.

* * *

Lloyd, who had only just discovered how many black wolves were seeking him when he heard the cry go up, would have welcomed being found almost as much as he would have welcomed Colette's voice. He hadn't heard her speak for almost a week now, and had no real reason to think he ever would again.

"What could have called her out here?" he murmured, and then realised that any hint of his location was a very bad thing to be giving out right now.

_Kkgghrrrrrrrrr__…_

"Whoa," Lloyd whispered, because it took more than the risk of fanged death to shut him up. "That's quite some… thunder…" He looked up at the star-dusted sky, totally devoid of storm clouds. Then, with reluctant slowness, he looked to his right, and saw vague silhouettes that weren't as black as the night or the wolves. Approaching as quietly as he knew how, Lloyd spied with rising hope a blond girl with wings that seemed to have grown from the heavenly aurora.

The hulking thing she was facing impassively, a hairy beast twice her height that seemed to be equal parts wolf and demon, applied a fantastic downward acceleration to that same hope. Its blue skin and fur seemed outlandish, almost funny, if not for the fangs that made their purpose in life very clear to all who gazed upon them.

Neither moved, although Lloyd thought that one of the creature's ears might have twitched when he placed one hand on a sword hilt. On the positive side, Colette was alive and unscathed. Always stay positive, even though your remaining life is likely to be very, very, very short.

"Colette?" Lloyd called with supreme quietness, barely loud enough to reach his own ears and wavering more than he would have liked. The beast –never had Lloyd seen a creature to more aptly fill that description– turned to him without hesitation and snarled. "Colette, quick, _run__!_" Lloyd blocked its first swipe with one sword and noted without enthusiasm that he hardly bit into the thing's fur, let alone cutting through its tough hide.

"_Gkhaarr__,_" it rumbled. Lloyd froze for a moment, staring wide-eyed into long rows of slavering fangs on jaws that could probably take down a tree in ten seconds flat.

"Colette!" he called. "Together, we can take this thing!" Lloyd's twin swords flared blue-white as he called up the Unison power that Kratos had taught them ages ago on the Ossa Trail. "_Tiger Blade!_"

He couldn't feel Colette in the union, but she still silently answered the call, hurling a Pow Hammer high into the air. Pow Blade wasn't a fantastic skill, but a few good smacks might slow even this colossus down long enough for him to haul Colette over a shoulder and escape…

The appearance of hammers in his hands could be termed an abject failure– that is, nothing happened. The union ended, and what Lloyd had managed to put together was a slightly nicked wolf-giant with a migraine.

It struck again.

"Oh, _bloody He–_"


	3. Rising Again

**Being Human**

**Chapter Three: Rising Again**

_To Dawn_

Lloyd rolled with the impact of the blow, but not by choice. This creature, which he would eventually identify as a Lobo (assuming he lived that long) was well beyond strong enough to take Lloyd apart by sheer exertion, and looked like it might try that when it got bored. In the meantime, it was going to break as much of him as possible.

The wolf-giant didn't seem to move, but Lloyd could have sworn even the push of the impact didn't take him any further out of its killing range, and another long arm smashed Lloyd before he could even rise to his feet. Okay, that wasn't going to work.

Lloyd lay almost still, hoping to convince the Lobo that he had suffered a crippling injury. Whether it worked or not, he didn't know, but the beast certainly didn't look suspicious as it extended its claws and lashed out, straight down.

A set of daisho were waiting for it, held close to Lloyd's body. He had to tilt his head sharply to avoid getting mauled by the dagger-like claws, and got the breath smoten most thoroughly out of his lungs, but the Lobo doubly gashed its own arm. Lloyd was willing to take what he could get right now. Unfortunately, its recoil and snarl of pain didn't signal his victory, not with Colette standing disinterestedly ten feet away.

He didn't know what kind of standoff she had been in with the creature when he had put his foot directly into the proverbial it, but he was starting to feel like someone had been slamming a proverbial door into that same foot over and over again.

The swordsman did his best with hit-and-run tactics to wear the Lobo down, but every time he slipped up, the beast's successful attack knocked the breath completely out of his body. By the third slip-up, Lloyd was on his back, having just rolled into the base of a tree and almost certain that his right leg was fractured.

"Colette!" he wheezed, desperate for help. "You have to… stop it… somehow… _Colette!_" She took no notice of Lloyd's shouts as the Lobo approached him. Lloyd couldn't tell if it was being mocking or was actually cautious, thinking that he might be faking his helplessness. That'd be nice.

"Hey, deerbreath!" A red spark flared in the night, and while Lloyd couldn't imagine why anyone would be modifying the EX gems attached to their Key Crests at a time like this, hearing Zelos' voice was good enough for him. "It's just as well the little angel isn't awake enough to complain about the mistreatment of dogs, because you're about to get crushed. Ahem.

"As if wearing fur weren't already way out of style, you're about as likely to come up with a brilliant strategy out of this battle as I am to become a monk – if brains were Exspheres, you could just about power a fork – your prospects are blacker than the fur of your little wolfie minions – the only reason you're out on the plains to begin with is because you're tired of getting beaten up by bunny rabbits – I've met more appealing gargoyles than your blue snout – the last time you caught a squirrel it said 'Good game, now I'll chase you' – and in conclusion, you're one ugly son of a–"

"That's enough, just _do_ it!" Raine commanded, somewhere in the darkness.

"Go!" Genis shouted, and his kendama flared like a star – he was calling on the others' Exspheres to attack in unison. "_Ice Tornado!_"

"_Lightning!_" Zelos added.

"_Photon!_"

"_Punishment!_" As the three spells rained down on the Lobo, Presea charged in to gash at its thick hide with a spinning cut. Then she and Zelos shone again with shared power, and the spin continued with an electric storm swirling around it with thunderous power. "Here I go! _Lightning Punishment!_"

When their onslaught was over, the Lobo disintegrated in a purifying nova and Lloyd remembered to breathe again. "I can't decide what part of Taunt EX gems I like best– the part about how it gathers power to harmonize Exspheres to attack in unison, or the part about how it requires you to insult the enemy in the midst of battle."

"One day maybe someone will care," said Raine, who had spotted Lloyd in the light from Presea's electric pillar and was in a hurry to see to him. "Until then, leave it for the bored philosophers. _First Aid!_"

"Ungh…" Lloyd groaned as he stood up, one hand on the rough tree-trunk and the other on Raine's shoulder. "Thanks, everyone. …Especially you, Zelos."

"The Chosen comes through every time," said Zelos, twirling his Hydra dagger. Even when standing still, his subconscious reflexively showed off.

"What was Colette thinking?" asked Genis, staring at his second-longest-time friend. She didn't acknowledge him any more than she had noticed Lloyd, but her red eyes were as alert as ever. "I know she _used_ to like dogs, but now…?"

"I expect it was her new prioritizing system." Raine looked up from sealing the last long cut on Lloyd's leg and saw that no one had any idea what she meant, except maybe Presea, who was bored by everything. "In her current state, Colette instinctively seeks out the greatest threat in the area. But since it wasn't attacking her, she didn't strike it either."

"She's really forgotten us…" Watching Lloyd stare forlornly at the Ill-Fated Girl, Raine kept herself from commenting on his tendency to have to face facts several times before he could believe them, as had happened in the Renegade base after they learned the Desians worked for Cruxis.

"Are we going to sleep tonight?" asked Zelos. "That'd be really nice."

"Adrenaline elevations will make resting difficult and inefficient," Presea noted.

"We might as well keep on going for the Bridge," said Genis.

"I hate twelve-year-olds and their ability to not sleep…"

"I agree," said Raine.

"With me?" Zelos asked hopefully.

"With Genis," she replied sternly. "Lloyd, can you walk all right?"

"Yeah, sure," he said immediately, and then dropped to one knee. "Ooh, _ouch_. What did that thing do, de-bone my leg?"

"Lloyd's not going to be moving quickly, but we can probably make some headway now and rest during the day. If one of you Tethe'allans can find a constellation and tell us where north is, we'll go."

Genis looked up at the sky, turned around a few times, and found that no matter what he did, everything was familiar. Tethe'alla and Sylvarant really were right next to each other, then, if the stars hadn't changed at all. "Raine? It's just like home."

His sister looked up from her patient and realised that Genis was right. "Oh. …That makes things easier."

"This is really what the sky looks like from Sylvarant?" Zelos asked. "…Doesn't seem like you should get to share a high-quality vista like this on such a low-class planet…"

With all of them looking at the starry sky, only Presea was paying attention to their surroundings, and she was unfortunately less than talkative. "Danger," she intoned.

"We already took care of the big blue lunk, rosebud," Zelos reminded her. "Remember? Pillar of raging lightning with you in the middle? It was pretty awesome."

"Large numbers approaching," Presea went on.

"What?" Raine snapped, shaken out of her observations. "I don't see anything out there…"

"Night Raid wolves evolved for nocturnal attacks. Their black fur makes them invisible at long ranges." Genis' admiration for Presea grew even more as she explained how they were doomed without so much as a quiver in her voice. Keep in mind that they didn't know about the Crystal growing in her yet. And that Genis, like most infatuated males, was pretty thick when it came to Presea-related matters.

"So what you're saying is…?" Zelos trailed off, walking slowly backwards toward the others.

"We are surrounded."

Luckily for Raine and the red-headed Chosen, they swore at the same time, and it was impossible to tell what either one had said. Lloyd snatched his swords from where they had fallen when he was struck, and immediately fell to one knee from the lack of support.

"We can't run. Can we distract them, ward them away, anything? Wolves in Sylvarant don't like fire, surely these can't be too–"

"_Fire Ball!_" Zelos and Genis chorused, launching a half-dozen flaming orbs into the dark. They burst in a series of flaring puffs, but elicited nothing more than a snarl from the unseen enemy.

"Black wolf pelts are flame-resistant," Presea added.

"I don't think I can cast enough Ice Tornadoes to get rid of them all…" Genis said, now backing up until he was flat against the tree. Unfortunately, climbing wasn't much of an option – they were out in the wider field, and this tree stood alone on the plain for some distance.

"Photon is too focused to be of use, and even Presea can be overwhelmed by numbers," Raine mumbled, unable to stop herself from pointing out how helpless they were.

"Yes, you guys _can_ run," said Lloyd, breathing hard. "Leave me here. Save Colette."

"Lloyd!" Genis yelped.

"I said I wasn't going to make any more mistakes! What would you call holding my friends back from escaping and surviving?" he demanded.

"You're not holding us here. We're just not leaving," said Raine.

"Um, technically, I don't really know you well enough to be counted as a 'friend', per se," Zelos pointed out, but before he could finish his excuse, a pinkish radiance warmed the encroaching night, and everyone turned to see Colette, hovering off the ground.

The Chosen's wings were out all the time now, but they glowed even stronger, and more celestial feathers were rising from the ground like sparks from a beacon-fire. Her face was disturbingly puppet-like, eyes still glowing in soulless red, but her lips moving as though in the midst of heartfelt prayer. Lloyd could see the words they were forming – after the first time she had spoken them, fighting off an army of wraiths in the Tower of Mana, he didn't think he would ever forget the incantation.

_Thy power floweth purely, ever unwavering. Accept my soul into thine embrace. Sacrifice!_

A deep blue seal burned in the ground below her hovering feet, and light spiralled up from it like a fountain in a cyclone. A glowing wave flashed from her wings, healing the others, and then a storm of shining rays enveloped the giant wolf pack ringing the tree. Stars exploded all around the human and elven travellers, shredding the dark beasts.

The cost, of course, was nearly all the mana in Colette's body. Her pseudo-incantation complete, the angelic vessel lost her glow and tumbled back down to the ground. Lloyd scrambled over to her, now mostly recovered by the angelic healing power, but still exhausted. "Colette? Professor, you've got to do something before–"

"I know," said Raine. Her eyes were starting to water again, suggesting that the adrenaline rush of battle was fading under the onslaught of her returning allergies. The professor knelt over Colette, murmuring the words of revival. "_ResurreeehhTCHOU!_" Raine covered her face with both hands, and then let out a long, extended groan. "I don'd have the stregth for id, Lloyd. I'm sorry."

"Colette…" Lloyd pleaded, leaning over her. The Cruxis Crystal in the hollow of her neck was glowing intermittently, as if its power was failing. "Why did you do that…?" He watched the flickering light slow down, expecting it to fall dark at any moment. But after a full minute had passed, Lloyd realised that it was now pulsing in time with a faint beating in his ears. The Crystal shone in time with her heart.

"She's in bad condition," Raine observed. "We'll have to be careful, but I think she's stable."

"Near death isn't stable," Zelos muttered. Genis, too tired for subtlety, leapt on the arch of the Chosen's foot with all his weight.

"Even if we can't sleep, we should at least rest for the night," Raine decided as the Chosen screamed in the background. "I want to check over everyone, in case one of us has been poisoned or injured without noticing."

"…Okay," Lloyd said at last, still staring at Colette. "Professor, why did she _do_ that?"

Raine sighed as she forced Lloyd to sit against the tree trunk and began checking for broken bones. The Lobo would have spread him across the countryside before dawn if they hadn't arrived. "I can't say for certain, Lloyd."

"Heh."

"What? What are you smirking for?" his teacher demanded.

"You're as bad as Colette. She does her fake giggle when she lies, and you always try to wriggle out of it with words. So tell me what you can say that's _not_ for certain," the young swordsman asked.

"I can't decide if you're a periodic genius or a complicated fool," Raine muttered. "Well… Colette's current state is devoted to survival without thought of the costs or any real ability to plan ahead, so it's possible she didn't realise what the result would be until the last moment–"

"I don't think that's it at all," said Lloyd, his words slightly slurred. "I think she's still there…"

"You can't hang on to that too rigidly, Lloyd… Lloyd?"

"I'll take first watch," he murmured, and slumped against the tree, forcibly claimed by sleep.

Raine smiled wearily, having finally decided that Colette's Sacrifice had healed whatever remaining injuries the group had received. She communicated to Zelos silently (Raine was fluent in Meaningful Glare) that he should take watch for the first few hours, and then settled in by the fire Genis had already roused, wondering if she would ever sleep.

* * *

Presea stood facing the newly risen sun, holding her axe at her side upright, like a pillar of support. She didn't flinch, even in that brightest light, but watched diligently for the approach of any potentially hostile creatures toward their camp. It seemed the remaining wolves of the region had learned that this prey wasn't worth it; her weapon hadn't been necessary since those last desperate battles.

She was also aware of Genis standing a few feet behind her, though he probably didn't realise how sharp her senses were. He had been there for some minutes now, alternating between staring, quivering, and half-turning away before summoning a new store of courage.

"Genis," Presea said at last, because he was starting to distract her.

"Ah!" the little mage yelped. "...H-hi, Presea." She didn't say anything. Apparently more greetings weren't necessary. "Don't you want any breakfast?"

"I will remain functional without food for many more hours."

"I… I was just thinking maybe it was because I forgot about the beef again…" Behind them both, Zelos was attacking sausages with the sort of intensity he rarely attained against monsters, while Raine and Lloyd fed with a little more patience.

Presea didn't say anything.

"So I made this," he said abruptly, and held out a small wooden bowl. "It's for you," he added unnecessarily.

It was lucky the head of her axe had sunken into the ground, because Presea's right hand grabbed the bowl before she was even aware of it. Genis probably hadn't noticed, but he did freeze as she tasted the bacon omelette.

Until she was finished, they both stood like their feet were stuck in the ground. At last, Presea turned to face Genis, the first real move she had made since they started talking. Even if emotions were totally foreign to Presea now, even if she didn't fully understand the idea, the Cruxis Crystal hadn't yet suppressed all her memories. There was a gesture that matched this scenario…

Settling on it, she leaned in and briefly touched her lips to Genis' cheek. He turned flame-red as the ax-girl watched in what almost looked like curiosity. She turned back to the sun, which hovered just above the horizon, while Genis floated back towards reality. Eventually he realised that she was back 'on duty', and wandered away.

"What was that about?" Raine asked, briefly between sausages.

"Just delivering some food to our night watch," said Genis, airily.

"More like dawn watch," Lloyd corrected, his mouth half-full, and had to dodge a swing from Raine, who had a thing about manners. Zelos didn't risk bringing the professor's wrath his way, but gave Genis a look that said he had seen what the others apparently missed. The little mage slipped away before he could be called in for a good advising.

When they started toward the Bridge again, Colette still lagged behind the group, but over the first hour Lloyd found he was able to drift closer to her without setting off any threat alarms and receiving a chakram to the teeth.

"I don't like this place, Raine," said Genis, too quietly for the others to hear. In any case, Zelos seemed to get bored away from approachable women, and Presea was busy leading the way. "I mean, it's bad enough that half-elves are such a big threat in Sylvarant, but here everything's turned over onto itself. Mixed blood goes at the bottom of society."

"We don't have to worry about that," said Raine. "As full-blooded elves, we might not be welcomed as warmly as humans, but no one is going to try anything. I think Heimdall is in this world, and that means elves have a much bigger presence."

"…Raine…"

She sighed again –life seemed to be making her do that with increasing frequency– and looked down at her brave little brother. "What do you want to do? The Rheairds can't take us home. And it's not like anyone suspects us. Just try to keep things that way. …I have to admit, it doesn't seem right to keep secrets from Lloyd."

"We can't tell him! He's the only friend I've got left!" Genis hissed. "His mom was killed by half-elves!"

"She was killed by Desians," Raine corrected him. "I have faith in Lloyd to believe in us no matter our blood. …But let's not do that test any earlier than we have to."

"Okay," Genis agreed, and tried to start thinking about what to make Presea for lunch. Raine, instead, focused again on the boy to whom everything seemed to keep focusing on. Lloyd had been invaluable throughout their journey in Sylvarant, had even fought Kratos when the time came, and had been the only real reason the Renegades had saved them from Cruxis.

She slipped to the back of the small group, where Lloyd was walking with Colette. "What are you doing? It's dangerous to be near her."

"I'm okay," Lloyd insisted. He kept stumbling in their long march, too focused on the Chosen's red eyes and not enough on the ground at his feet. "What if she's in there, all alone, and just can't tell us? How do we know there's nothing left of Colette but her body?"

"There's no reason to think that," Raine said, perhaps too harshly.

"Yeah, there is," Lloyd insisted. "A shell wouldn't have saved us with Sacrifice last night."

"What do you mean? It was tactically in her favour to protect those who were in danger from the wolves, because she was still aware of our ability to then save her. Just because I didn't have the power and her Cruxis Crystal had to do it instead–"

"Professor," said Lloyd, softly. "She could have just flown away."

Raine froze in midsentence, and fell behind a few steps as that simple realisation sunk in. She ran to catch up, but still her mouth worked silently, not finding any words to follow Lloyd's. "Then what do you believe?" she asked at last.

"I think we have to work to save Colette as long as we can, because no matter what this Cruxis Crystal does to her, she's still Colette. Nothing can ever change the way she sees the world."

"What's this?" asked Zelos, appearing from nowhere in particular, like a smug cat. "My dear professor, you look startled. Perhaps in the morning light my features have struck you to their full effect, and you wish to–"

"_HAAACHOU!_" Raine bellowed and then looked miserably at her hands. "What? I could hab _sworn_ id was going away," she moaned. Then a thoughtful look came across her face, and she sniffed the air. "…Whad is thad smell? It's sort ob… lilac…"

"Oh, you noticed my cologne," said the Chosen brightly. Raine stopped again, and spun on him like a gargoyle on a turntable.

"Your…" the secret half-elf began, and Zelos could have sworn her pinkish eyes were turning as fiery-red as Colette's. He started to back away. "…Cologne?" Raine produced her long staff from wherever she kept it and began stalking toward him, breaking into a charge when Zelos turned and fled down the road.

Lloyd watched them go with a smile. There was something deeper than a voice in all people, more definitive than memories and far more important than blood. He didn't know what it was, but Colette's was still alive, and he was going to save it.

Tentative but determined, Lloyd slipped his hand into hers as they walked toward the sun. "I'm here, Colette. And I'm not letting go."


End file.
